This blog, Criminal HIV Transmission, a collection of published news stories, opinion, and resources about so-called 'HIV crimes', has now been incorporated into the new HIV Justice Network website, and will not be updated as of November 15th 2012.
For more information about the HIV Justice Network, please visit http://www.hivjustice.net

Tuesday, 27 May 2008

Angola's government is considering a new law criminalising 'intentional' HIV transmission, according to a report from PlusNews, a UNAIDS-funded HIV/AIDS news and information service for sub-Saharan Africa.

ANGOLA: Should intentional infection be a crime?LUANDA, 26 May 2008

Proposed reforms to Angola's Penal Code have divided opinion in the country about whether HIV-positive people who intentionally infect others with the virus should be punished.

The law under discussion calls for a sentence of between three and 10 years in prison for those knowingly pass on infectious diseases, including HIV. Some argue that the law will act as a deterrent; others say it will bring more problems than benefits.

"Criminalisation is going to backfire. It goes against human rights and the fight against discrimination, and it won't prevent intentional infection," Roberto Brandt Campos, a coordinator with UNAIDS in Angola, told IRIN/PlusNews.

UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation voiced their opposition to such a measure being introduced anywhere in the world in a document released in 2007, saying that it represented a step backwards in HIV prevention efforts.

This is not the first time such a law has been tabled in Angola: the country introduced legislation relating to HIV and AIDS in 2004 but a measure calling for the criminalisation of purposeful infection was among those not included.

Victim and executioner

According to Campos, one of the main difficulties with such a law is determining the intention to infect. In his view, proving transmission from one specific individual to another is already difficult, and proving that an infection was intentional even more so. "Transmitting the virus out of negligence is different from transmitting it in on purpose," he stressed.

Carolina Pinto, an activist with the non-governmental organisation Luta pela Vihda (Fight for Life in Portuguese), believes those who infect their partners on purpose should be punished, but acknowledges that the line between negligence and intention is a thin one.

"Doing it on purpose is different from not telling, but those who have the virus must accept their condition and protect their partner's life," she said, adding that both partners should take some responsibility for protecting themselves.

Even so, Pinto, who is HIV positive, said there were some behaviours that suggested deliberate transmission. "If it happened once, okay; but if the person continues to practice unprotected sex even while knowing that he or she is infected, I think it's on purpose," she told IRIN/PlusNews.

In cases of sexual transmission, Campos worries that such a law would only deepen the damaging perception that people who contract the virus are victims and those who give it to them are their executioners.

"There is no such thing as a victim; people are the subjects of their own life stories," Campos said. "Sex is a two-person relationship, in which responsibility is necessarily shared."

In cases of mother-to-child HIV transmission, Campos said criminalisation could set a precedent for children to take their parents to court. He cited a case in Florida, in the United States, where a boy sued his mother for giving him HIV. "Parents will feel intimidated about revealing their condition. All this does is feed the chain of stigma and discrimination."

Unintended consequences

In a country where people often don't reveal their HIV-positive status out of a very real fear of rejection, Campos argued that criminalisation would only heighten such fears, and mentioned the example of an HIV-positive woman who became an activist and went public on television. The residents of her neighbourhood did not want their district to be shown in the television report.

"With this level of discrimination, how can you expect someone to have the courage to take the test and then tell their partner?" he said.

Criminalising intentional transmission could also have the unintentional affect of discouraging voluntary testing. "People are going to think: 'if there's a law that says I'm going to be penalised, it's better not to know my HIV status'," Campos said.

António Coelho, director of the AIDS Service Organisation Network (Anaso), believes a more practical approach to breaking the chain of HIV transmission is to counsel people on how to change their behaviour.

Unfortunetely, you might be surprised and I agree with you in principle about the no criminalization of this issue. However, visiting the country and having family living there I have to tell you that hiv transmission with knowledge and omission of the person infected is not that rare in Angola as you would portrait it. You have also to bare in mind that the way women are looked at and treated is quite different than in Europe. And of course these cases are with consensual sex but the partner ommits he/she that he is hiv positive. Well,if he didn't he wouldn't even be able to go to work in most of the cases not to speak about sex.You have to bare in mind that you are speaking of a country where abusive behaviour is common practice and certain practices that might shock some are usual.I do not know what will solve the problem of AIDS in Angola and in most of southern africa one has to understand that Angola oficially is very much like a catholic country but in practice is a poligamic society, i do not forsee people using condoms there, everybody has several partners unoficially, sex between young girls and older men is common all this makes condom use very difficult.

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About this blog

This blog is now incorporated into new HIV Justice Network website which is intended to be a global information and advocacy hub for individuals and organisations working to end the inappropriate use of the criminal law to regulate and punish people living with HIV. There you will find the latest news and cases, searchable by date, country, and case type, plus all kinds of advocacy resources (including video). The information on the website is also classified by 25 topics, under six headings: Advocacy; Alternatives; Impact; Law Enforcement; Laws and Policies; and Science.

The new HIV Justice Network website incorporates all the posts from my blog, Criminal HIV Transmission, which I began in 2007. Little did I know at the time that it would become an important global resource, filling a much-needed gap by capturing what is happening in real time. It was only when I attended AIDS 2008 in Mexico City, and discovered how many people knew of me and my work, that I realised how useful a resource it had become for advocates, researchers, lawyers and others from all over the world.

Knowing that the blog served as an international information and advocacy hub placed enormous pressure on my time and personal resources. Until the beginning of 2012, the blog and its associated advocacy work received no funding – save the few wonderful individuals who donated via Paypal and a small grant from IPPF (thank you!). So I’m very grateful to The Monument Trust for its generous support which has allowed me to sustain, develop and expand the blog into the HIV Justice Network. I’d also like to thank Kieran McCann and Thomas Paterson from NAM, who designed and developed the site, as well as NAM’s Executive Director, Caspar Thompson, for his support and guidance.

HIV and the Criminal Law

This international resource, HIV and the Criminal Law, which I wrote and edited for NAM, is available as an A5 book and at www.aidsmap.com/law. To order your copy visit www.aidsmap.com/law, or contact NAM at +44 (0)20 7840 0050, email: info@nam.org.uk If you are based in a low or lower middle income country, as defined by the World Bank, and would like a free copy of this book please contact NAM.

Why Criminalisation Matters

Click on the image above to listen to Sean Strub, Catherine Hanssens, Vanessa Johnson and I discuss why HIV criminalisation in the US is a major issue for public health and human rights. The panel took place in February 2011 as part of the eQuality Thinking virtual convention.

Funders Concerned About AIDS

I delivered the keynote address, 'Combating HIV Criminalization at Home & Abroad', to the annual gathering of US-based HIV funders in Washington DC in December 2010. Video of my presentation is now available. Visit the FCAA website to watch it online.

Criminalisation of HIV Exposure and Transmission: Global Extent, Impact and The Way Forward

This meeting by and for advocates against the criminalisation of HIV nondisclosure, exposure and non-intentional transmission was held on July 18th 2010 prior to AIDS2010 in Vienna and co-organised by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, the Global Network of People Living with HIV and NAM.

This poster presented to the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna in July 2010, highlights how the US criminal justice system routinely breaches international human rights standards [click on the image to download an interactive pdf file]